Super Replay Showdown
Super Replay Showdown was a competition among certain Game Informer staff members to determine the featured game of the eleventh Super Replay. Each round was shown as the second segment of a Replay episode. After three rounds, Dan Ryckert won and Half-Life became Super Replay 11. Candidates Announcement video Taking the place of the second segment on the ''Fox Hunt'' Replay, this video set up the contestants and their competition. Andrew Reiner went first, showing off his game Tomba!. Next, Kyle Hilliard said he would play Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Joe Juba decided to play Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, and Dan Ryckert chose Half-Life. This proved troublesome, as Phil Kollar was to play Half-Life. In fairness, Dan was allowed to keep his game, and Phil would have to decide on a new one. After thinking some, Phil stated he would play Half-Life 2. Jeff Cork chose the obscure Gotcha Force for his game. Ben Reeves, following the drama, initially picked the non-existent Half-Life 3 for his game as a joke before stating he would play Conker's Bad Fur Day. Finally, Tim Turi stepped up, pretending to be a real campaigner. Unfortunately, his initial take was ruined when the microphone fell, forcing him to restart. Tim's game was Crash Bandicoot, as he had never completed it. Bracket Round 1 (March 10 & 17) March 10 For the initial round, Tim and Kyle faced off in Rumble Racing. Ben Hanson, the host of Super Replay Showdown, set up the game as a one lap race for best two out of three. Kyle immediately had a disadvantage in the first round by choosing a mini-van for the race, which proved severe as he lost the first round. In the second round, Kyle made another mistake, this time knocking him and Prince of Persia out of the competition. Tim, and his game Crash Bandicoot, moved on to Round 2. After that, Jeff and Ben Reeves faced off in Super Bomberman. Hanson set it for three rounds with no computer players. Jeff revealed that he frequently kills himself in the game, but both seemed pretty inexperienced. Jeff lost the first match, then won two in a row. Ben caught up and became the winner. Jeff and Gotcha Force were kicked out, leaving Ben and Conker's Bad Fur Day to move on to face Tim in Round 2. March 17 The second half of Round 1 began with Reiner going against Phil. Ben Hanson revealed their game to be 007: Agent Under Fire. He set the rules of the game to play like GoldenEye 007 on Nintendo 64, and with low gravity. Both Reiner and Phil struggled to learn the controls. Hanson finished explaining the rules: first player to seven kills wins. Phil took an early lead, and Reiner was never able to catch up. Reiner and Tomba! were knocked out of the competition. Phil, with Half-Life 2, were set to move on to Round 2. Two rivals faced off in Buzz!: The Mega Quiz. Dan and Joe started the game as a Mexican Luchadore and Old Lady, respectively. They tied each other at the beginning, then Joe jumped ahead. Dan, nervous every second of the game, caught up, singling out Joe's weaknesses. Dan overtook Joe, and kept the lead over several rounds. Eventually, Dan's lead proved too costly for Joe as he ran out of points, losing the game. Dan moved onto Round 2 with Half-Life. Wild Card (March 24) News broke just before this episode aired: Phil Kollar was leaving Game Informer. Left with an open spot in the tournament, Ben Hanson devised a plan to fill Phil's seat: the losers of the games up to this point (Kyle, Jeff, Reiner, and Joe) would face off in Super Smash Bros. on Nintendo 64. Calm as ever, Joe got knocked out first. Reiner, who didn't remember the controls, was defeated next. Jeff had a slight lead over Kyle, but lost when Kyle got the better of him. Kyle replaced Phil in the showdown, matching him against Dan in Round 2. Round 2 (March 24) Round 2 began with Tim versus Ben. They played a rather unorthodox game: Sumotori Dreams. Both Tim and Ben were upset at Ben Hanson's choice of game, particularly Tim. Whilst the competitors attempted to play the game, Dan and Kyle can't stop laughing at the content of the game. Hanson informed Tim and Ben that the winner is the first to three victories. Ben eventually beat out Tim, who proceeded to ridicule Ben Hanson's host skills. Ben and Conker's Bad Fur Day made it to the Final Round. Dan and Kyle took the controls, fighting against one another in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3. Dan, not pleased with the game, chose Trunks, while Kyle selected Goku. Ben Hanson claimed that one match is all that mattered for this round, as the matches last a while. Dan started off strong, and continued to hold that until he won the match. Dan moved into the finals to face off against Ben. Final Round (March 31) Dan made it to the finals with Half-Life and Ben with Conker's Bad Fur Day. Ben had defeated Jeff and Tim, while Dan had beaten Joe and Kyle. Upon turning on the TV, it is revealed that the final round would be determined with the final level of Pokémon Snap, in which contestants had to take the best picture of the elusive Mew. Each player had two chances at the level, with Ben going first. During his try, Dan decided to leave the room to avoid getting an unfair advantage. Ben Hanson offered advice to Ben through his first attempt. The player must throw apples or pester balls at Mew to get it out of a bubble that blocks it from the camera. Ben snapped a few good pictures, and turned one in for a large score. Dan reentered the room to begin his run. Even though Dan didn't understand the concept as much as Ben, he did proceed to knock Mew from the bubble faster. Taking a few very close shots, Dan seemed much better off than Ben. Dan finished the level and turned in his picture, which got a higher score than Ben's, as not only was Mew closer, it was centered and looking at the camera. Ben started his second run, with some difficulty. Seemingly falling under pressure, Ben was unable to snap any pictures worthy of beating Dan's score, and therefore accepted defeat. With this victory, Half-Life became the eleventh Super Replay, with Dan as host. Quotes *'Kyle '"I want to play it in 3D without the glasses, is that okay?" Silence Ben Hanson "That was a joke! Hey!" *'Ben Hanson' "Hey! Ben Reeves is speaking!" *'Ben '"I will be playing Half-Life 3." *'Joe' "I will end you!" Dan after Ben Hanson announced their round External links * Super Replay Showdown page at Game Informer Category:Super Replay Category:Replay second segment